THE CHURCH AND ITS CALLING

The Church as "Body of Christ" and "Bride of Christ" are Pauline metaphors. There are more metaphors and three of my favorites come from Jesus: Salt. Light. A grain of wheat. 

The first two come from Sunday's Gospel Reading from Matthew. The third is Johannine. We have heard so many homilies about these three. We are the salt of the earth, we give flavor to life. We are the light of the world, we push away the darkness. We are a grain of wheat, we need to bear fruit... We feel good about being salt, light, and a grain of wheat. 

We are so comfortable with these interpretations we miss what those metaphors demand from us: all require self-sacrifice; all require emptying; all require dying...

Salt dissolves. Light burns out. No seed ever sees the flower. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  

We should never forget what Jesus commands us: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." We should never forget what his earliest disciples remind us: "We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another." 

My friends, the church was not called to live forever. The church was called to die. 

We should never, ever, forget that we follow an Executed God. There can never be a resurrection without a crucifixion.

*art, "Shine," by Mike Moyers (from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library digital archives).

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GOOD NEWS FOR THE POOR

The Beatitudes in Sunday's Reading from Matthew are declarations about those whom God favors. Each is an affirmation that God takes sides, that God plays favorites. And God’s favorites are the last, the least, the lost, and the left out. Luke's version declare both blessings and woes. 

The first of these, and possibly the best known, is "blessed are you who are poor". 

"Poor" here refers to people who are destitute, people who are so poor that begging and stealing become options for them to survive, people who are drowning in misery.

Two ways to become destitute in the first century were to lose land and to lose one's place in their family. For most people, land was not just property; land was life. Family identity was exceptionally important in the ancient world. People were known as the "son of" or "daughter of" their father, or mother, or clan. War, slavery, and indebtedness left people widows, orphans, and refugees. War, slavery, and indebtedness left people destitute, displaced, and dispossessed. 

The Tanakh (what Christians call the Old Testament) over and over and over challenges the Israelites to care for widows, orphans, and refugees. War, slavery, and indebtedness were all part of the structures and systems of evil that made the rich richer and the poor miserable. Alas, things have not changed. With development aggression, things are tragically worse! 

During the time of Jesus, the 1% owned and controlled the land and practically everything else. Half of the population was slowly starving to death. Life expectancy was 28 years.

When the Gospels talk about the poor, they do not mean the rich who are spiritually poor. Poor does not include the wealthy who live in poor relationships nor the powerful who feel poor. The poor that the Gospels talk about are people who have to beg God in prayer to give them the food they need today because surviving today is how they get to see tomorrow. 

There are people who love to pray this prayer while they have cupboards--or even storehouses--of food enough for a week, a month, a year, or until The Second Coming. These people are NOT poor.

*art, "The Sermon on the Mount," JESUS MAFA, 1973 (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives).

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THE PARABLE OF THE "BAD" SAMARITANS

We love the Parable from Luke 10. Most of us identify with the Samaritan. We name our institutions after him. I know of a Good Samaritan Hospital, a Good Samaritan Church, and a Good Samaritan Multi Purpose Credit Cooperative. I'm sure you all know more. 

But things have tragically changed. An evil culture of impunity has enveloped the world. We live under societal, political, and institutional conditions where perpetrators of crimes—particularly those with power and privilege—are rarely held accountable, investigated, or punished. The powerful and the privileged now label Good Samaritans "Bad". 

Despite the label, Good Samaritans still exist and persist. Despite the red-tagging , vilification, harassment, and demonization,  they continue helping the wounded along the world's bloody ways. 

Some of them exist, persist, and resist! And are labelled, not just "Bad", but as "Terrorists". 

ICE executed two of them. Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. Both were 37. 

We all need to put a stop to this evil culture of impunity. NOW!!!

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GO FOLLOW. GO FISH.

Friends, many among us used to sing a song that went, "I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, fishers of men. I will make you fishers of men if you follow me." I haven't heard this song sung in years. Probably because we have stopped fishing for people. Why is that? We have stopped FOLLOWING JESUS.

What have we done instead? We praise Jesus. We worship Jesus. We proclaim Jesus. We declare, "Christ above all!" We do everything in our power to make other people look like us; pray like us; act like us. We have stopped doing what Jesus told us to do in order to fish for people. FOLLOW HIM! 

Why is that? Because following Jesus is hard. It is easier to praise, worship, and proclaim Jesus than to follow him. It is very dangerous. It means loving our neighbor, which includes the unlovable and, yes, our enemies.  It means taking up the cross. It means going against empire. It means being red-tagged, vilified, and demonized. It means being crucified. It means offering one's life as a ransom for many. 

Jesus is, right now, waiting for you and me to follow him to Galilee. By the sea. To go fish for people.

Friends, another song comes to mind. We have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back! 

*Art, "St. Peter and St. Andrew," by Peter Koenig (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives)

GOD IS NOT IN HEAVEN ANYMORE. PART TWO

Last Sunday's Gospel Reading on the baptism of Jesus reminded us that, in Scripture, God does everything possible to live among God's people here on earth--whether it is God descending on Sinai, journeying with the Israelites via the tabernacle, taking residence at the temple in Jerusalem, and fulfilling the promise of "Immanuel". 

This Sunday's Johannine Reading resonates with the same theme: God finding ways to live among God's people here on earth. The number of sermons and commentaries on "The Lamb of God" is voluminous. But contemporary Hebrew Bible scholarship-- especially on the Priestly Tradition in the Pentateuch--can help us better understand the meaning of "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

Whether it is about Mount Sinai, the  Tabernacle, the Jerusalem Temple, and eventually, the territories of ancient Israel and Judah, the blood that is offered as purification (or sin) offerings acts as ritual detergent. "Sins" make God's dwelling places "dirty". The offerings and its related rituals (washing hands, bathing, etc.) make sure that God has a welcoming place God can call home among us.

Remember when we were children? Remember all the rituals we did to keep our homes clean and welcoming? Remember all the times we had to wash up, bathe, brush our teeth, and wear fresh clothes when we were expecting guests? 

In other words, my friends, the blood of the lamb makes the whole world, including you and me, spotlessly clean so that God can dwell among us. For the Christian, Jesus is the reason the whole world is cleansed. For the Christian, Jesus is the reason God is not in heaven anymore. 

Praise the Lord!

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*image, "The Lamb of God" at the Basilica dei Santi Cosma e Damiano (Rome, Italy), from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives.

GOV. JOSEPH, KING DAVID, KING SOLOMON, AND PRES. TRUMP

Many times the church turns to the Bible to find biblical characters who embody ideal leadership. Many times the church find the wrong models. Like Joseph, David, and Solomon. 

Genesis 47 tells us of how Governor Joseph oppressed the Egyptians. He introduced a famine relief system that required that all the people give up all their money, their livestock, their land, and their freedom so that they do not starve to death. 

2 Samuel 11 details how King David raped Bathsheba and had Uriah, her husband, killed in battle so that he, David, can possess her. 

1 Kings 9 and 2 Chronicles 8 tell us how King Solomon enslaved both the Canaanites and his own fellow Israelites. He replaced the tribal confederacy with 12 economic zones and introduced forced labor to undertake his infrastructure projects for the Lord.

Friends, these are explicit in the biblical text. 

Tragically, we have been so enamored with Joseph the Dreamer, David the Slayer of Goliath, and Solomon the Wise that we do not see the stark truth before our very eyes. People suffered and died under their leadership. 

The same applies to Donald Trump. Millions are so enamored, actually blinded by the trifecta of myth, mysticism, and MAGA that they cannot see the truth of his dictatorial, fascist, and violent regime. People have suffered and died under this administration. People will continue to suffer and die. 

Lest we forget, Joseph, David, Solomon, Trump, Netanyahu, and, yes, Marcos and Duterte all believe in God. They all believe that God is on their side. But even Satan and his minions believe in God. King Herod who executed John the Baptist believed in God. Even the Chief Priest, Joseph Caiaphas--who collaborated with Pilate to have Jesus executed--believed in God. 

I'm pretty sure that ICE Agent Jonathan Ross, who murdered Renee Nicole Good, believes in God as well. Adolf Hitler certainly did. 

Belief in God does not excuse these men from the evil they have done. And in the case of the aforementioned heads, and former head of state, the evil that they continue to do.

The untold suffering and senseless deaths of people will go from bad to worse because terrorists occupy the White House, Malacanang Palace, and many halls and corridors of power.

My friends, they need to be stopped. And the sooner the better. 

*Image: OBJEKTIV, 9 January 2026 (American Attack on Venezuela)

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GOD IS NOT IN HEAVEN ANYMORE

Yes, you read that right. God is not in heaven anymore. God has stopped watching from a distance.

There are so many people who are fixated on going up to heaven. There are those who do most of what they do in order to secure themselves a place up in heaven. There are also those who believe that investing their 70 to 80 earth years on "heavenly" endeavors--putting numerous bills in the offertory, donating land, building air-conditioned churches, and making sure that everyone accepts Jesus as their Personal Lord and Savior--will get them a reward in the afterlife that spans eternity. A mansion over the hilltop. 

Then there are those who read their Bibles, pray everyday, and grow, grow, grow in the realization that many times in scripture, God does everything possible to live among God's people here on earth. Whether it is coming down to liberate God's people from slavery, descending on Sinai to give the Law, journeying with the Israelites via the Tabernacle, taking residence at the Temple in Jerusalem, and fulfilling the promise of "Immanuel", God wants to be with us.

Given the choice, God wants to come down. We, on the other hand, want to go up. 

Sunday's Gospel Reading from Matthew talks about the baptism of Jesus by John. Mark and Luke have parallel versions. Only Mark reports that the heavens were torn or ripped apart when the Spirit descended upon Jesus. Sunday's text resonates with divinity's need to come down. The passage says that the Spirit descended like a dove. I would like to believe that the Spirit tore or ripped the heavens apart because the Spirit could not wait to leave heaven for earth. 

And, do not forget this, ever: the Spirit that came down has not gone back up to heaven. Because Jesus is still here. The Risen One is still down here on earth, particularly in places and spaces where we do not want him to be; in places and spaces where we are afraid to go. He is waiting for us to join him as he works among the destitute, the discriminated, the disenfranchised, the dehumanized, the occupied, and the silenced.

My friends, God is not in heaven anymore. God has stopped watching from a distance.

*art, "John baptizes Jesus," JESUS MAFA, 1973 (Cameroon), from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives.